Everyday people read newspapers and books, but where did printing begin? The movable type printing press by Johannes Gutenberg made this all possible. Johannes first conceived of this idea of the printing press in the 15th century in order to speed up the slow process of producing books (Bantwal). The movable type printing press, the first real technology of its kind, helped to solve problems, but in turn also caused problems. This technology did influence many areas of life in its lifespan. This includes challenging the church and poisoning people with the increased toxins from mass products of materials. Depending on one’s point of view, this invention could be the best or worst thing to happen during the 15th century. Regardless of that, the printing press’s influence was widespread and therefore, was a great invention for the machine’s time. Despite the negative repercussions of Gutenberg’s movable printing press, the machine is a positive technology.
Johannes Gutenberg created the printing press in the year 1452. Four other technologies that were more or less common to different parts of the world, made the printing press possible. The first technology was a wine/olive in the screw-press, which areas of Asia and Europe used to obtain oils and create wines. The second invention was block-print technology that Marco Polo originally brought to Europe. A third technology is oil-based ink that was invented in the eleven hundreds. Since this ink smears on vellum, printing did not use this ink. Vellum was costly, but durable so books that took awhile to make utilized this material. Finally, the fourth material was paper, which many process make different forms of all over the globe (Bantwal). Gutenberg used these old technologies ...
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...to thank. Everyone should know the origins of many of the technologies in the world and many of those do lead straight back to the printing press. Without this invention, the world would have stayed in the dark ages for generations. People, as a species would not be anywhere close to what we have achieved.
Works Cited
Bantwal, Natasha. "History of the Printing Pres." Buzzle.com: Intelligent Life on the Web. Buzzle.com. Web. 19 Apr. 2012.
Beach, Justin. "Pros of the Printing Press." EHow. Demand Media, 08 Apr. 2011. Web. 19 Apr. 2012.
Jensen, Carolyn. "Jensen Review." Rev. of The Printing Revolution in Early Modern Europe. Lore. San Diego State University. Web. 24 Apr. 2012.
"Printing Press." ThinkQuest. Oracle Foundation. Web. 22 Apr. 2012.
Ross, Tiffany. "Negative Effects of the Printing Press." EHow. Demand Media, 28 Mar. 2011. Web. 19 Apr. 2012.
(Hook) Throughout the history of man, there has been numerous achievements in human communication that have changed lives greatly. (Bridge) One of the milestones in communication was the printing press. (Background Info) In 1450, Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in Germany. By 1600, more than 200 million books had come off the presses. Therefore, an average person living in Europe at the time could own a book, such as a copy of the Bible. As the number of books being produced increased, the literacy rate increased as well. As a result, people started to read and explore topics such as science, religion, and geography. The printing press led to a major price drop in books, more knowledge learned, and many significant events in history, such as the Age of Exploration and the Reformation. (Thesis) I believe that the most crucial consequence of the printing press was the Age of Exploration.
The printing press allowed anything to be spread throughout the world with relative ease, and for cheap. Prior to the 1436 invention by Johannes Gutenberg, books were written BY HAND, by the priests and scholars of the time which meant knowledge was limited, and the spreading of news would take much longer. Without the printing press Martin Luther would never had been able to spread his ideals throughout the world. The printing press made it easier for males, and sometimes women to get educated, this still did
The printing press was, arguably, the most impactful invention in history. Created by Johannes Gutenberg, the printing press are sets of metal letters set in a frame that could be inked, papered and pressed. The printing press affected the fast and wide spread of new ideas changing everyday life. The Protestant Reformation was a movement that changed people’s mind about Catholic belief and created new sects of Christianity. The Exploration Era led to many discoveries of the Americas and opened up the curiosity of many. Both of these historical events were important consequences of the printing press. The Exploration Era was the more important consequence of the printing press than the Protestant Reformation.
Before the invention of the printing press, any writing done, whether it was a book, or drawing, or copies of the Bible had to be completed painstakingly by the hand. Every letter, every word, every sentence, had to be written down by hand. It took almost over an entire year to write a single book. In addition to the large amount of time spent, people often made mistakes delaying the publishing of the book. The effects of these scarce, handwritten copies were that education and learning was very limited. Desperate for fame and money, German Johannes Gutenberg changed all of that. In 1450, Gutenberg created the first ever printing press, built and improved existing printing methods. Soon, by the 1500’s printing shops were located everywhere in the major cities of Europe. People had a better way of spreading ideas and findings of new lands during the Age of Exploration, the period of time when Europeans began exploring the world by sea in search of new discoveries, trade routes, and goods found in other countries. The Age of Exploration was affected by the printing press more than the Protestant Reformation was, because it helped publicize recent findings, inspiring and
Johannes Gutenberg’s invention of the movable type printing press changed the world. It changed religion, literature, and geography. He used molds instead of having scribes handwrite books. It helped produce written works at a much faster rate than previously. This made them cheaper, and more affordable to the less fortunate. This increased the literacy rate. Gutenberg’s original printing press was invented in Germany, but quickly spread throughout Europe (Document 2). Gutenberg’s creation is no doubt one of the most useful things we have in today’s world.
The first printing press was created to make books (Mostly bibles in the day) cheaper and more accessible. At this time only nobles and scribes new how to read and write. In result of this press, written pieces became commonplace making the common people needing to know how to read and write. This literacy spread and spread as the printing press became more common and caused the majority of the world’s people to be as literate as it is today which helped to revolutionize the work
The printing press was invented by the well-known Johannes Guttenberg in 1450’s. The idea of the printing press came from the Chinese which introduced Woodblock Printing in 600CE (BackGround Essay). The exploration of the Printing press idea was useful to the reformation of Guttenberg’s idea of the printing press, going from movable wooden types- To metal frames that wouldn’t wear out. The idea of Exploring the Printing press is a major key because without having the exploration of the printing press there would’ve been no reformation of it, to make it better. The purpose of this essay is to tell whether the Exploration or Reformation was the more important consequence.
In today’s standards Johannes Gutenberg’s printing press may seem simple and ancient, however it laid the groundwork for modern printing which has had huge impacts on society. No more were the days of spending an entire year on one copy of one book. After Johannes’ innovation hundreds of copies of books could be printed with ease. This opened up many new possibilities. Instead of reserving books for scholars and monks, anybody could obtain a book for cheap. Individuals attempting to learn how to read, write, or become multilingual no longer needed a teacher but instead a single book. The idea that anyone could become somewhat educated was
According to Postman, he mentioned about the invention of printing press had a great impact of human civilization. Of such technology had eventually created a series of influences for the development of childhood. First of all, the printing press was invented because people want to document our idea and be able to transform them through a rapid material. Since the printing press can mass produce literature, and express idea rapidly, it created many consequences.
Wood-type printing allowed new typefaces to be created and used for printing cheaper than ever before. Technological advances permitted machine-set typography to be printed on machine-manufactured paper with high-speed steam-powered printing presses. The use of color lithography passed the aesthetic experience of colorful images from the privileged few to the whole of society.
Johannes Gutenberg is an inventor born in Mainz and created the printing press. The printing press was the invention of moveable metal type paper and was able to print books, newspapers, bibles and much more. It was the start of something new and evolved throughout the entire world. Gutenberg’s creation was known to be the most significant invention in history. It is the most prompted creation that people could ever ask for and for many extraordinary reasons. The reason why the printing press was so useful than just any other invention is because it spread everywhere. It was the most useful achievement in history because without it today, where would we be? How could you or any of us be writing or, typing? Where and how would our relgion expand to or how would we express our thoughts and opinions? The printing press helped us achieve these monumental experiments and helped us develop together as a whole new generation. The news about the printing press created more and more competition with businesses and soon became the talk of every business. The printing press created future chances for bigger and more power inventions to advance. The prin...
1 Mumford, "The Invention of the Printing Press" in Communication in History: Technology, Culture, Society, Crowley and Heyer, eds. (p.96)
The proponents of technology have always believed that technology is a product of independent creation and thus follows its own pace. They say that technology is forceful and society does not have a choice but to adapt to the changes that it imposes on the people. The members of any particular society may not be actually happy with the change but eventually they learn to accept it, as a result of which the process of change comes a full circle. This idea however is debatable because many critics point out that technology is in fact a planned phenomenon. Not only this but also they point out that there are certain forces that control and introduce technology into the society and that the expected changes from such an introduction is said to be a deliberate attempt at transforming the society. Marshall McLuhan wrote extensively about this subject in his book The Gutenberg Galaxy. The book is basically about the changes that were imposed in the European society as a result of the creation of the printing press in the fifteenth century. It was this printing press that was responsible for a number of changes in the society, which include the social, political and economic forces that were present at the time. The printing press was primarily responsible for the Protestant Reformation because a large number of bibles were available for everyone to read which meant, “Every man can be a priest.” The following essay will thus attempt to discuss McLuhan’s ideas in the light of the phenomenon of technology and discuss whether it is relevant to the current revolution in electronic publishing. The initial Gutenberg revolution discussed by McLuhan is just an introduction of other things to come. He is more interested in finding out about the...
In 1476, William Caxton introduced England to the printing press. This significant introduction to one of the world’s greatest technological innovations, at the time, helped to increase the spread of literacy and knowledge amongst the British people as the mass production of books became cheaper and more commonly available. According to Mastin (2011), the first book ever printed, although Caxton’s own interpretation was ‘The Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye’ in 1473. Furthermore, Mastin (2011) states that in the following 150 years after the introduction of printing, up to 20000 books were printed.
Human beings are creative species. They have come up with great ideas and invented some wonderful tools since they have been on earth. From the time that someone threw a rock in the ground to make the first tool, to the introduction of the wheel, to the development of electricity and the Internet. These alterations, and many more have been made to provide us the modern life we are living today. There are many inventions that have changed the world dramatically. Historians suggest that the printing press was one of the most revolutionary inventions in the human history. The printing press was invented over five-hundred years ago and was the first step in transforming societal literacy. Around 1440, the printing press was invented by the German Johannes Gutenberg, who was the first to design a technique that has the ability to transform the ink from the movable type to paper. Basic development of the printing press was, the hand mold which is the process that enabled the production of metal movable types. Printing presses with this movable type mechanism increased the rates at which copies of books